“What is person-centered care?” asks Teepa Snow, MS, OTR/L, FAOTA, an occupational therapist and nationally renowned dementia care educator.
“It’s really a lot, but when it comes to dementia, it’s essential. It’s what every one of us would want. So what we’ve got to do is figure out how to take that and make it practical for organizations,” she says. “Families can’t do this alone.”
“By the time we notice this disease right now, only two out of ten people are in the early stages,” explains Snow. “Eight out of ten are already to mid-stage dementia. … So we’ve missed some opportunities here. The current thinking internationally is no care for me, without me. I need to be part of care planning. I should have that opportunity."
Snow challenges health care organizations to think about how the care they provide must change, as an individual’s dementia progresses. “When you live with dementia until you die from dementia, you’re going to need the wide variation” of care, she says.
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